Buoyancy Floats
by mabel-but-slytherin
Summary: Eons after the Transcendence, two twins are shipped off to spend the summer with their uncle in the supernatural paradise of Buoyancy Floats. Now it's a race between them, Alcor, and the creatures that live there to discover what mysterious forces are at work, and why this story seems so familiar yet so different from what history remembers.
1. What's in a Name?

This was an idea for a TAU fic I had while away on vacation, and seeing as it hasn't seen it done before, get ready for one heck of a ride! (if I can keep this monster from walking all over me)

Feel free to ask questions! I'm hoping this'll be a bit of a mystery, so I'll probably avoid any that are too direct, but I have the main plot down and am fleshing out details now!

Note: you may want to check me out on tumblr (username there is mabel-but-slytherin) for hints to solving the code if you're stuck.

* * *

The small ferry bobbed its way through the blue-green waters, filled to the brim (and likely beyond safety capacity) with its hourly load of tourists. However, none of the passengers seemed concerned at the pointed lack of orange floatation devices hanging overhead as they laughed and chatted amongst themselves, and the few who noticed just laughed aloud and treated the barebones stiff foam as if they were among the funnier exhibits they would see.

Marine safety tended to be waved off that way within the Bermuda Triangle.

Although they technically weren't within the Bermuda Triangle, the twelve-year-old boy cramped into the fifteenth row in by the window of the bottom deck would all too willingly point out to anyone who stated the misinformation near him. Buoyancy Floats, despite thriving off of the attention and visitors it receives as the center of the supernatural energy of the Bermuda Triangle, actually only makes up a box due northeast of the island of Bermuda, crowning the mythical place but not actually touching for obvious safety reasons. No reason to add more fuel to an already nearly inhabitable fire of supernatural happenstance that's been brewing ever since before the Transcendence.

The tween had no need to fear scaring off folks by coming across as a smart-aleck, however, for no one was talking to the young boy with his nose in a book of myths about the famous landmark (it was an absolutely fascinating read, even though he found it more terrifying given that he was currently making way to the destination, discussing peaks in accident frequencies both pre and post Transcendence within the Triangle). In fact, he and the young girl next to him were probably the only two passengers on the ship not partaking in conversation, as she channeled all of her focus and magic into her imbuing.

A few nearby passengers had raised eyebrows at the hobby, after all, the magical craft of pouring energy to create or empower small trinkets had the potential to be dangerous, and anyone could be a deceptively talented child prodigy. But the crew hadn't even blinked an eye as she carried a beginner's rune sheet onboard, even as the teen checking tickets on the pier knocked the boy's cap into the ocean, laughing that he'll need to take the dork hat off for the snorkeling anyway. The kid's mumbled answer that he wasn't here for the snorkel tour was ignored. It wasn't like there was anything else to do in Buoyancy Floats, after all.

A soft glow emanated from her clasped hands before they separated to reveal a small, flat, pink gemstone. It was a simple crystal that was practically equivalent in price and quality to plastic, and the imperfections in the stone probably made even less valuable than a run-of-the-mill rhinestone to be honest, but the young girl gave a tired smile at her work nonetheless. Shoving it into her brother's face, her smile only brightened as he swatted it away, angrily muttering that her imbuing was "attracting unwanted attention."

"Oh, get over it bro! We're gonna be living in an amusement park for the summer, you better get used to people! Maybe even boys!" She flopped down sideways on the ferry bench, earning a holier-than-thou look from the old woman's leg she accidently kicked with her sneakers and an eyeroll from her brother.

"It's a supernatural marine sanctuary, not an amusement park. If only Mom and Dad had the sanity to send us to somewhere as safe as a bunch of flying metal deathtraps for the summer." Holding the newly made gem up to her finger like an engagement ring, the girl didn't even look away as her hand darted back to ruffle her brother's hair, whistling innocently as if she had just lost herself in romantic fantasy. The returning glare was hidden by the bright orange bangs the boy immediately flattened over his head, instinctually shooting glances around the ship to be sure that no one had seen what happened.

Dropping his voice to a whisper he leaned down to his sister's ear and hissed, "What do you think that was for, May-"

"Hey look we're almost here!" She darted up from her seat to look over the railing at the small cluster of islands and floating docks coming into view, leaving her brother to grumble in his seat. A second later the boat pitched, tripping her up slightly and sending the pink gem flying into the ocean.

Had she been a more talented mage, perhaps the girl could've made out the ionization trail that the stone left in its trajectory.

That same moment, her brother froze as a chill clawed across his back from head to toe. Rubbing his forehead to soothe the oncoming migraine while avoiding parting the scruffy orange bangs, he looked out the ferry's windows to try to identify a source for the sudden wave of magic. No one else seemed concerned, and there had to be some adult proficient enough in magic to sense a wave that disconcerting, and there was no reason the ferry should be venturing into the Triangle, so why…?

This time the lurch of the ship was physical as it hit the dock of the main island, and the wave of tourists stood and started pushing and shoving their way towards the boat's exit. Pushing the anomaly to the back of his mind, the boy waited for the way to clear before rising to disembark. He just wanted a normal summer as far from the magic and monsters his sister seemed excited over as possible, he reminded himself, and chasing after pulses of magic only he could sense was the exact opposite of normal.

But as the day went by he was helpless to stop his curiosity from bubbling and boiling over in ways it never had before, until he all but felt the static chill whenever he shut his eyes.

* * *

Steven Birch sighed as he covered his left eye with the triangular eyepatch, fastening on the fake peg leg as he made his way towards the gift shop door. Both flesh and wood echoed across the smooth glass beneath him, the sound muffling as the floor was quickly covered by dark rock of the same volcanic origin as the rest of the island. He shook his short hair out as he made his way into the salty air, both frustrated and grateful for the passionate insistence tourists had that guides on the islands be dressed in pirate garb. It was dirty and uncomfortable, but it made excuses to forgo snorkeling with the tourists laughably easy and covered up all-nighters without time to shower in a pinch.

He leaned against the doorframe with a hand on his hips, looking for all the world like the crusty pirate captain they expected him to be as his watched his faithful crew unload the passengers. The man sighed as he watched Wanda hand out group identification stickers to the various bunches of people, before kicking himself into gear and smacking the kid who ripped his off and threw it into the water with his peg leg. He may have to let these dirty tourists into the sanctuary to make ends meet, but demons be damned if he let them trash the place more than necessary, especially after all the effort they've put in to conserving it.

Steve shook off the nagging thought that he was quickly becoming an old man. The limp was just because he's out of practice with the peg leg. There's no reason a man who's only 54 should be falling out of his prime.

Another reminder of his age hit Steve across the faces as he watched the last two passengers disembark, hanging back from the rest of the crowd partially because they were dragging bulky suitcases off the thin gangway. His niece and nephew were the spitting image of their father and mother (at least he thought the wide eyes and unmistakable hair came from their mother; it had been over a decade since he'd last seen her). They seemed so much bigger than they were as infants, yet the world (even on this flat coast) seemed to tower over them as they looked up from mops of orange hair like baby carrots unearthed and gazing at the heavens for the first time. Or, Steve thought wryly, more like a Jack-o-lantern on the boy's part, given that his orange mop was long and unruly enough to cover his entire forehead and tightly frame his features.

The boy's eyebrow raised slightly as he made eye contact with the stranger watching them, not knowing he was looking at his uncle, and Steven's heart leapt as he was reminded of the kid's father sending him that exact look after an especially strange joke from his brother went right over his head. It's been so, _so_ long since he could afford to leave Buoyancy Floats unattended, and all too many years since he could bring back his family to join him.

Steve, no, _Uncle_ Steve now, didn't even pause in his way towards the kids as the horror washed over him that he couldn't remember his own nibbling's' names. Super and… Willow was it?

Eh, he thought as he wrapped them both (suitcases and all) into a big hug (getting a large number of photos snapped that he would charge them later for _because you don't take advantage of a background like that without giving something to make sure it stays that way_ ). The Birches were always notoriously terrible at naming their children anyway.

* * *

Alcor, the Lost Star, the Twin Soul, the Dreambender, however many of his infinite names one wished to call him, was sulking. As usual.

In fact, by this point, the only thing usual for Alcor to do was to sulk, for one doesn't do the exact same thing non-stop for a couple of decades without it becoming synonymous with usual. He hadn't yet broken his personal record for sulking (he'd spent a decent portion of some millennia doing so) but he wasn't doing this to break a record.

Actually, Alcor the Dreambender wasn't sure really why he was sulking in the first place. By now he was merely doing it because there was simply no reason to stop.

It's rather easy, when one is a timeless demon of power so unquantifiable that surely it outshines mere summonings and deals, to lose track of the universe itself as it seeps away through the cracks of whatever else seizes the mind. Which, occasionally in Alcor's case is absolutely nothing, seeing that his soul is seemingly ever-frozen in a somewhat teenage state, a complete anomaly which Alcor has reason to believe he might have once understood before it was buried in omnipotence. The vacuum of existence that lay between the stars, the unbridgeable divide between he and his twin Mizar was as fulfilling empty as it was insatiably fascinating, and it was all too tempting to escape from whatever minor upsetting he had on Earth into the void that mirrored death, all while letting the flock manage the declining summons and rising dreams of the world as he slept in a dreamless stupor that his colleagues called 'angsting'.

But one day, countless moments after regaining a bleary awareness of time, Alcor was hit by a wave that spread through the Dreamscape and pinged in his very soul. The force of nature (the lack of any hint or signature of what creature or mortal could have summoned it leading the Watcher or Worlds to believe that the powers were somehow aligning themselves) swept over him like an avalanche, and for the first time since he was a novice demon trapped in the world's most powerful binding circles, Alcor felt the itching of the idea that something else could force him to _obey_ if it truly wished.

It pulled like a tide, reaching its cool sensation across his being until it dragged his magic back out to sea, pulling the teleportation spell right out of his own power to hurl him to his destination. Alcor couldn't move as it happened, but not due to any power weighing his muscles- he was as free to move as a runner along a beach - it just wouldn't help as he was tugged away by the riptide.

No, Alcor was frozen in _wonder_. For _so long_ he had been the moon, the Distant Star that gravitated tides on a whim. But now he was the sea, the majority of the Earth and the foreign magic felt _so fulfilling to finally be a part of the world again_.

And then it ended, and Alcor found himself on a beach. It was midmorning, the bright sun still rising over the crowd of humans clustered on the tiny rock, but the light was already shining at full blast and hollow without the half-rainbow of the dawn.

The empty feeling could've just been because of the magic, the tide that had filled _everything_ for just that one second was now gone. Although the air here was latent with magic, so thick that Alcor could hardly make out the individual flavors (that his omnipotence was quick to name and catalogue away for future consideration), it was disorganized and strewn about in a chaos that Alcor had to remind himself was normal in dimensions outside of the Dreamscape, nothing like the unified pull of the world itself that brought him here.

Drinking in all the sensations, trying to sate the hole in his stomach that was quickly filling with a nagging tingle that something was _off_ here, Alcor took in the people standing before him, re-familiarizing himself with human features that didn't exactly line up with how he remembered them.

It-it couldn't have been _that_ long since he'd been here, could it? Feeling the weight of time around him, Alcor could swear he had been in this dimension fairly recently, definitely after some of the people here were born. But it had been so long since he'd truly noticed the world around him, the people and aspects that made of life rather than the intentions and magic behind whatever deal he was bout to make. Somehow that burst of energy had changed his awareness and reminded him that his remembered familiarity wasn't everything.

And Alcor couldn't for all his omnipotence decide whether that force was a good or a bad thing.

But, how could _he_ forget what it was like to be a human, what it even looked like on its most basic level? He had _been_ a human once, hadn't he? At least, that's how the legend he preferred to tell himself always went. When memories had occurred quite literally an eternity ago, when that time in a human form was literally lifetimes away even on a demonic timescale, who could blame even The All-Knowing Alcor for forgetting the details?

Details like why just looking at those two kids hugging their uncle- _Sipper and Maple Birch_ , his omnipotence helpfully supplied- fueled that _wrong_ feeling building in his stomach until he was nearly seething with an unfounded jealousy and rage.

* * *

 _NUPCLOWR XWMTAW ZA WGSU E RBGX_

 _TFR POS'J BUQ OOI HII'L EPYGA XF XYMY_

 _MILSH MZP RKPGB JRROSI EJGX LTADZ_

 _SI IYX OG PTGY FARFM MPFIG MWBC_


	2. The Birch Canoe

Wow, I have both a lot of thanking and a lot of apologizing to do for how amazing you've all been and how late this update is.

The saddest part is this was practically done within a week of my last update. I had originally planned to put a bit more in this chapter but had huge writer's block afterwards, and then the hardest semester I've had in school has popped up, a whole ton of life has happened, I started a couple other fanfics (that I've been just as terrible about updating) and just haven't had as much time in fandoms. So sincerest apologies, and while I really wish I could be better, there are a lot of other things in life that also fall into that category.

But thank you so much for sticking with this, whether you've found this (or any of my other stories) since publishing or if you're coming back after the five months it's taken to get chapter two. Incredible shout-out goes to The Crossover Addict, who not only has been incredible about reading and reviewing most of my work, but both promised fanart for this story after only one chapter and _followed through after five months with no update_. You are absolutely incredible, and me finally getting around to updating now is entirely because of you (as is the line cipher! The poem is a little ode to the TAU mods who are always watching. MODSAREWATCHING MODSAREWATCHING MODSAREWATCHING MODSAREWATCHING MODSAGYPOEQJING MODSARZFXHEHYNG MODSAREWATCHING MODSAJEWATCDXNG MODSA).

Hopefully the fact that this is the longest chapter I've ever written for anything partially makes up for the hiatus, and I hope you enjoy this more lighthearted TAU fic to the darker Already Damned that I'm hopefully going to write more of after leaving this here. I'll try to post some of The Crossover Addict's fanart in ANs or on my tumblr once they get back to me with permission to do so, because it's incredible and I'd love to share their talent with anyone who's willing to see me gush over my OCs.

Enjoy!

* * *

"I. Am. So. Bored!" Maple moped for who-knoweth time that day. She flopped about as she tried to gather the energy to do a sit-up from where she was draped over the armrest of the couch before deciding that it just wasn't worth it and letting out another groan. She opted instead for just turning her head to look through the open doorway into the room she and Sipper shared and yelled, "Aren't you gonna get _boooored?!_ "

Sipper in turn didn't even look up from his reading as he flipped the page and calmly answered back, "Why don't you just work on your imbuing or something?"

"Because that's the only thing I've been doing for _three days!_ If I hadn't accidentally bumped in to Uncle Steve while under magic-hunger hallucinations he probably would've even forgotten to feed us!" Sipper didn't even dignify the remark with a reply, simply continuing to flip through his latest novel. "You can't seriously just plan on reading like a dork all summer?"

"I can and maybe I will. Unlike you I don't go around getting bored of the things I love to do. I have patience and determination." It was funny watching how her brother somehow manage to puff up while still remaining hunched over the tome twice the size of his face, and Maple let out a snort at her nerdy cheese puff of a brother.

A few page flips later and Maple heard the tell-tale sound of the back of the book being slammed shut. She opened her eyes to see Sipper putting the thick book on top of the pile at the end of his bed and looking over at the about equal sized pile sitting innocently next to it. Staring between the two as if he could magically find the answer to whatever equation was on the back of his eyeballs (although he'd probably _freak out_ if he did, Maple mused) he finally pushed himself back against the pillows and moaned.

"Ugh, this is completely unsustainable! We've only been at Uncle Steve's house for three days and I'm already halfway through my packed reading, even with all the room I made by emptying out my suitcases!"

Maple started to chew on her orange hair. "I still can't believe you didn't even pack shampoo or more than one change of clothes."

"I'm sorry, but what kind of man doesn't keep enough shampoo in his house for his family to use when they're staying over? Even if we are kinda on a nearly-deserted island miles away from the nearest actual civilization." Sipper sniffed under his arms as he climbed off of his bed and walked into the living room with his sister, "and I already told you that bringing more than two sets of clothes is irrational! You can wear each one for a couple of days before people start noticing and assuming that Uncle Steve does laundry as often as a normal person, _which given the current experiences I'm starting to become more and more doubtful of_ ," he muttered under his breath, "You just put one pair on while the other's in the wash and Ka-bam! No one notices and you have more space to pack books in."

Maple scrunched up her nose as her brother plopped down next to her on the couch. "I don't think that principle's meant to apply for underwear." Then the scent hit her and both hands joined the face in nose scrunching, "Or shirts for that matter."

Sipper wilted, "I know. But it's too late for that now. Unless… hey Maple, do you mind if I borrow your shampoo and soap?"

"Not if you mind smelling like unicorns and rainbows!"

"Never mind there's no hope I'm destined to stink all summer."

"Sipper!" Maple leaned forward to start tickling her brother, but once her hands reached his sweaty shirt she recoiled, "EW!"

The pair shared a laugh before Sipper stood up. "Come on, let's go make Uncle Steve actually do something close to parenting."

"Or we could run around and go explore the island on our own!"

Sipper paused. "That… that actually sounds like a really cool idea."

Maple's face burst into a grin. Today was already chopping up to be one of the days where she spent the most time with her brother in her entire life.

Boredom really could do miraculous things.

"Uncle Steve Uncle Steve Uncle Steve Uncle Steve!" Two prepubescent orange blobs burst their way out of the main cabin and flung themselves around the old guide attempting to wave away his lack of respect for noisy kids as old-man-stuffiness.

"Sipper and I were wondering if we could go exploring around the island. Or go for a swim on the beach. Or go on an epic boating adventure where we get lost at sea and have to survive on our own for the entire summer with only an axe like in those clichéd books Sipper reads-"

"Maple!"

"-or anything really because we've been inside for so long that we're going crazy and getting bored!" Steve looked down into his niece's face and realized that what felt like the combined force of two uncontrollable tackle-hugs was really just her, Sipper was standing a few feet away scratching the back of his head.

"Ehh… you see kids I'm really busy leading a tour right now that's completely booked to and probably beyond legal safety capacity." Steve Birch didn't seem to notice the intensifying glare of the mother holding back her child the man was in the middle of scolding before his own kids ran out making twice as much noise, or how she gripped her child tighter at the blunt comment. "Maybe if you two just sit tight until Uncle Steve's done here we can do something later tonight after this group's gone home… and the three more groups after that."

Maple stamped her foot down. "But Uncle Steve! What's the point of staying the summer on the beach if we don't get to go out and have fun and see things? Like this bright golden ball in the sky- _wow it's so pretty I'm just gonna stare at it and…_ "

"Woah, there! Easy kid, don't go get hurting yourself on my watch." Steve pulled Maple away from her staring and noticed that Sipper's hand froze about halfway in its awkward ascent there before sending a thankful look his uncle's way. Seeing the siblings sharing a look Steve turned away, "I forgot, kids need sunlight… kind of like plants…"

Turning back together he clapped his hands together. "Well kids I have a great idea! Why don't you two go out there and help me with a few chores around the island and in exchange when there's room on one of the tours I'll let you two hop along free of charge!"

"Aren't you supposed to be giving us a vacation anyway?" Sipper pointed out.

"Are we still allowed to bring an axe?" Maple piped up.

"Do you two want something to do today or not? Besides, it's not even that hard! You just need to go around the island and use these to make sure the pH of the water is within a normal and healthy range!" He handed the cylinder of strips over to Sipper. Maple… didn't look as trustworthy with even the most basic of scientific equipment…

Seeing the boy's hesitant look towards the container he added, "And don't worry, kid, they're perfectly mundane. Same kind of cheap but effective chemistry that they've been using since before the Transcendence." Steve couldn't remember through all of the family phone calls he'd had with the twins' parents why exactly Sipper was so terrified of being near anything even remotely magical. It wasn't that the kid hated it or any magical creature, if anything Sipper seemed openly fascinated by everything in the world around him, even if he was too shy to man up and face it and rather hide away in fiction. He himself just wanted nothing to do with it, and Steve knew that by the end of the summer at a magical sanctuary he would be able to change the kid's mind.

But maybe that would need to involve actually feeding and spending time with his family first.

It wasn't as if Steve didn't want to…

The twins shared another look and in that moment Steve knew they were going to take it and run. He had been a kid once and would recognize that look anywhere. So he did the first thing that came to mind a grabbed Maple by the back of her tank top before she could bolt, turning her to face him and making sure he had both of the twins' attention.

"Now you listen to me carefully." Looking around and still seeing the gaggle of tourists watching he carried Maple off towards the cabin and privacy and set her down as Ramiro took over getting the group ready. "There are some ground rules for staying on this island. You are never to break them and I swear to sanctity that if I think for a second you will I will make you two swear a binding oath discomfort or not." He sent a pointed glare Sipper's way and watched as the kid rolled his eyes. Steve wanted to be proud that the kid at least had some backbone (even if it was made of sass rather than strength) but was mainly frustrated that he wasn't getting through.

"Just because there are tourists here doesn't mean that it's safe, and I'm sure both of you know that wandering into some creatures' territories alone could be dangerous." _That_ snapped the two of them to attention quickly.

"Which is why neither of you are ever going to go out boating to other islands on your own. Neither of you are going to wander beyond a distance that _this old man_ can reasonably hike without supervision or my express consent. And neither of you are ever, _**ever**_ , going to go swimming or diving in anything that is not a designated, lifeguard approved tourist beach or cove. _Do you two understand?_ "

Sipper and Maple both nodded forcefully.

"Good. Now I have to go back to work, but you two go around and take some samples in anyplace that you think might have a different content of water." He started heading back to the catamaran the group was already loaded on before turning back to the still kids. "And you two have fun, you hear me? Get to know the place you'll be calling home for the summer! Just, you know, stay on the beaten path is all."

And Sipper and Maple were left alone on the main pier of Buoyancy Floats.

The twins turned to face each other and shared matching grins.

This was going to be _so. much. fun_.

"I can't believe you're actually planning on _doing_ all of these." Maple was sitting on a rock kicking her bare feet in the water as Sipper leaned over the latest test strip, watching as the color changed to match one of the ones on the container. "I mean we could be running around on an actual tropical island and you are literally watching paint dry."

"It's not paint! It's an ancient scientific way of monitoring the health of the islands! And I for one think that's really cool…" He turned away from Maple who looked over his way as his bushy hair brushed against the test.

"Hey-oh! It's almost as orange as your hair!"

Sipper stiffened. "That's not funny, Maple. I had read before that acid rain was really damaging these kinds of waters but I hadn't imagined seeing it like this before." The color evened out to a more lime green and the boy sighed before cataloguing it in a pocketbook. "At least it's not as bad as I thought there for a minute."

"How long until we're done?"

Sipper looked around the perimeter of the island. Despite being the main island in Buoyancy Floats (at least the island that Uncle Steve used to operate the Sanctuary and tourist attraction from, there were older, larger, uninhabited islands and some smaller ones that housed the few families living on the island chain), the place wasn't really that big. There was the living cabin and yard with attached gift shop/snorkel rental/tour registration that took up about a third of the island, a beach with a lifeguard chair a couple hundred yards from the ferry dock that was always teeming with tourists and families (even when Sipper could've sworn the last ferry had already left the island), and a small hill in the center with minor hiking trails that the twins had so far avoided. After all, they were checking out the seawater.

Right now the twins were at a rockier part of the shore, about a third the perimeter away from where the swimming beach ended. The only part of the shoreline they hadn't walked was the small rocky cliffs a few hundred feet down, but the high tide gave the impression that the walk right now would be too perilous even for young, agile feet.

But the odd pattern of the crashing waves just _screamed_ to Sipper that they would be pushing a different current of water to those shores.

Sipper pointed the place out to Maple and she happily supplied, "We'll just go borrow one of those little rowboats Uncle Steve has and go over there! We passed one on the way here and it actually looks like an adventure we can have while you do your boring science stuff."

"But, Maple! Remember what Uncle Steve said? We're not allowed to go boating on our own!"

Maple shrugged. "To other islands, silly! This is just a little ways, and we're still on the main island there. Uncle Steve could even see us if he stood right here."

Sipper looked over at the rocks. The area was pretty visible from this vantage point, besides being a few feet taller than the sandy shoreline.

Maple saw that her twin was still hung up over what he considered rule-breaking. "And if you're really that unsure we can just go and ask Ramiro if it's okay!"

Following his sister's finger, Sipper looked over to see Ramiro working on the motor of one of the small boats laid out by the snorkel shop. The college-aged employee was tan and fairly well-built from his work in the sun, and Sipper could tell that half of the reason Maple was consider asking him was because he looked like the kind of guy she'd find hot.

Sipper personally couldn't get over the jealousy that he'd never be able to look like that without burning to a crisp, but he wasn't going to admit that to himself, let alone out loud.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I couldn't help but overhear that you two were considering going to ask Ramiro for advice on potential rule-breaking." The twins looked up from their musings on the maintenance everyman to see a tall, strawberry blonde teen making her way towards them. She was dressed in a red and white tee shirt and tan shorts with a fully capped red visor on her head. Sipper took in the sight of her and realized that this was just like Maple and Ramiro: she was hot, but he could already tell that she wasn't his type and that it wasn't worth it.

"You see, Ramiro may look like he's the cool, chill surfer dude who's willing to let things slip by, and let's be honest, he sometimes has the attitude, intelligence, and dialect to match, but he's like, a total mommy's boy. Not only that, but he totally would do anything for Mr. Birch, so telling him something is out of the question unless you want it getting back to your uncle."

She paused. "You are Mr. Birch's niece and nephew, right? Cause that would be _soo_ awkward if you weren't." She stuck out her hand at the twins' collective nod. "I'm Wanda. I'm the lifeguard in this _fine establishment_." She rolled her eyes at the end, and Sipper felt a grin spread across his face as he reached out and shook.

"No, it's totally cool, Uncle Steve's our, well, uncle. I'm Sipper, and this is my sister Maple." He winced internally as he saw the flash of curiosity dart across Wanda's features at his name. Maple's name at least sounded like he could be saying something normal, but whenever he introduced himself he always got the same questions of…

"Oh." Sipper looked up to see a smile on Wanda's face. She didn't appear to be even forcing back a comment, just seemed kind of expectant for him to continue the conversation. It was a welcome change.

"So… what kind of rule-breaking are you two considering? Come on, you can't just go through all that introduction stuff just to leave me hanging!"

Sipper paled. Sure, Wanda may sound cool, but she had just openly admitted that the one person they were considering telling was going to immediately go spill to their uncle!

"It wasn't that much, really! We just wanted to go and explore those rocks over there, test the water like Uncle Steve was asking us to, and we figured we'd have to take one of the boats. But Uncle Steve said that we weren't allowed to go boating to any of the other islands without him but this isn't really another island it's just a series of rocks jutting off of this island, unless you wanted to consider each individual rock as their own really small island in which case it's definitely breaking the rules and it's the first time we've been allowed to help out and explore the island and-"

He stopped his rambling to see Wanda holding her hand out. "Hey. Chill. It's totally cool. I mean technically he didn't say that you couldn't do what you were thinking of doing so technically he didn't say it broke any of the rules, am I right?" She flashed Sipper a smile and Maple a thumbs up.

"Just… by 'testing the water' you two weren't planning on swimming over there, were you?"

"Of course not!" Sipper jumped in the second he saw the hesitation and disapproval on her face. "We were just using these test things Uncle Steve gave us!"

Seeing the container Wanda let out a laugh. "I swear Mr. Birch is completely obsessed with that stuff. Well, you two have fun, and get out there while Ramiro's working the next shift. It was nice meeting you!"

Suddenly, the white noise of children playing was pierced by a sudden scream.

Maple glanced towards the screaming. Then towards their new friend.

The sound continued to get louder. Maple glanced back again. "You don't happen to be the lifeguard on duty, do you?"

Wanda shrugged. "Ehh, it's just the sound of kids having fun. You'll get used to it."

 _ **"OH MY GOD SOMEONE GET A LIFEGUARD! THIS IS NOT FUN! THAT KID'S DROWNING!"**_

Wanda's eyes darted towards the direction of the noise without moving the rest of her body. "I should probably go take care of that. Any louder and your uncle might notice I'm not there and realize I'm taking a break to talk with you. Wouldn't want your secret to get discovered the very first day, now would we?" And with a wink over her shoulder Wanda ran off.

"And don't go doing anything actually dangerous, you hear? I mean, at least without letting me join in on the fun!" Not even slowing down as she grabbed the throwable life ring, Wanda ran straight into the ocean (without even taking off her visor) and shot through the water like a torpedo towards the kid flailing against the waves.

Sipper and Maple watched her go for a good minute before Maple turned and poked her brother on the shoulder. "She was nice! Now, ready to go steal a boat out from under Ramiro's nose so we can go exploring?"

"How about we try erring closer to the side of caution than the lifeguard who nearly let that kid drown?"

Maple just shrugged. "Suit yourself. Now let's go!"

"Hi! My name's Maple and this is Sipper and we're visiting Uncle Steve for the summer and need a boat for an epic boating adventure so which one do you have?" Maple leaned over the small metal powerboat Ramiro was working on and kicked her legs in the air in the air expectantly.

The teenager pushed his way out from under the boat and met Maple's eyes inches above him without even blinking. "Well, dood, let's see. This is the boat that we normally use for small crew-only sailing, but the engine's kinda beat right now. Magical interference and all busts it every couple of months. We do have that old rowboat that should float, but the thing's like, practically ornamental. Sailing in that would be like setting a paper crane free: beautiful, but structurally unstable."

Maple simply leaned forward closer to the boat boy, "Your face is beautiful and makes me unstable…"

Ramiro didn't even seem to notice as he stared in thought. Which looked awfully similar to just zoning out, thinking really hard about something, or just momentarily becoming brain-dead... Sipper could see why Wanda compared him to a surfer boy. "We would need to take it out for a test ride before you two can take it out of the swimming beach, but…"

"Come on, it's just to the other side of the island!" Even Sipper could feel his patience running thin as he pointed the rocky outcrop out, but that might just be because watching Maple try to flirt with the boathand was more disgusting than his current t-shirt, and that was saying something.

"Oh yeah, over to Eagle Point! Sorry doods, still gotta test out the boat before sailing off it in."

"Excuse me." A blonde man had come over from the direction of the gift shop while the trio of employees (or employee and two special guests, technically) were talking and demanded Ramiro's attention. He was clearly a tourist who simply didn't care that the boat maintenance rack was obviously an employee's area, and likely a rich tourist if the perfectly blossoming tan, yellow Hawaiian shirt and almost comically large but clearly designer sunglasses meant anything. "I was out browsing the gift shop when the tour that I actually paid for myself," the man shot a glare with the comment in the direction of Sipper and Maple, the latter of which stuck her tongue out at him, "left without waiting for or notifying me. As you can see I need to be reunited with my party immediately."

Seeing the client tapping his foot impatiently before he even finished speaking (as if he was clearly expecting Ramiro to guess what he wanted and fix things before even hearing his grievance), the teen mechanic, guide, and general first-mate gave a sheepish shrug to the twins. "Sorry, doods, I gotta go help this guy out. You two can go get the boat," he pointed up towards a bark canoe mounted outside the gift shop, "and bring it down to the edge of the swimming beach, but like, stay here until I can come back and test it."

Seeing both kids visibly boo, the teen's face fell. "It's gonna be like half an hour before I'll be back, but I guess if you can find another employee to inspect the boat you can head out before then."

Seeing the twins smile again made Ramiro smile too. While there were always a lot of kids coming and going, the residential (even seasonal) population in the Floats was pretty tiny, being a sanctuary and all. It would be cool having them here the whole summer.

"Ahem." The man was still waiting behind them, and Ramiro knew based on the type that if he kept him any longer Mr. Birch would hear the complaints later. "Oh, I'm sorry! Right this way dood!-I mean sir!"

As the two walked off Sipper and Maple faced each other and shrugged before running off to go get the boat.

"Last one there has to do most of the dragging while the other gets to ride in it!"

"No fair, Maple, you already have a thirty foot lead!"

"I can't believe you actually _beat_ me here…" Sipper sighed at his sister's attitude. Of course, as soon as Maple lost her own bet she'd immediately start whining.

"I can't believe you actually got distracted by a wild seagull."

"But its beak was so big! It was practically a pelican! I was gonna capture it and train it and then get it to do tricks like a falcon or act like a big ventriloquist dummy! Not that I would need a dummy since I already got you. Haha, Dummy." Sipper frowned as Maple continued to laugh at her own puns and turned around to examine the boat.

It was a birch canoe, which was ironic but likely purposeful given their Uncle. It had a smooth polish that looked well cared for, and was covered by a brown tarp to protect the insides from the weather or any unwanted tourists. Sipper honestly didn't care for more detail as he flung off the tarp with a flourish of excitement to rest in a pile on the ground, they had spent long enough getting here and he was just ready to get to Eagle Point for the sake of adventuring.

Gods, not even an afternoon in and he was already turning into his sister.

But still, had she won she would've already been doing the same thing, Sipper thought as he plopped into the boat and kicked his feet up on the opposite bench. He wasn't going to let her get away with whining and backing out of her own bets for the summer.

"Come on, Maple! This boat isn't going to get to the beach by pulling itself!"

"Boo, Sipper! You could have at least gotten the thing off the standy-thing."

Sipper just turned to send her an insincere smile before leaning back and taking in the sun. And quickly shot back up, rubbing the back of his head and then smoothing back down his hair where it bumped against the end of the canoe. Looking around the island, from the main cabin to the beach to the small section of woods on the hill guarding the tall rocks blocking the way to Eagle Point by land.

With the adrenaline still running through his system at winning a physical challenge (for once in his life!), the sun on his back and the whole place spread out invitingly below him, Sipper for the first time in his life was filled with a glee and a confidence like he was king of the world.

Then the world started turning sideways. With a determined and mischievious grin on her face, Maple turned the canoe around 180 degrees (practically breaking the stand, but she didn't really care) so that Sipper was facing her head on, leaving his back to the hillside below.

"Fine. Enjoy the ride then dear stick in the mud." Pushing the canoe off the stand with all her might, Maple ran after the boat, letting it run down the grassy side of the hill towards the beach as fast as the light boat could go. "LAND HO!"

Sipper let out a (not girly nor high-pitched thank you very much) scream as he nearly bounced out of the canoe on impact, half falling out of the lightweight (and definitely not meant to sail on land) vessel again as it continued to toboggan its way towards the shore. Maple was facing him as she pushed the boat, laughing at his attempts to force a glare of contempt on his expression as the fear and enjoyment warred for dominance. The ride screeched to a halt as they reached and traversed the flatter sand of the edge of the swimming beach and the combined friction and Maple pulling it to "Stop Stop Stop!" before it hit the shallow cresting waves steadily slowing it to a stop.

With one final jolt Sipper tensed again where he was gripping onto the sides of the boat, his legs no longer stretched out but curled tight with locked knees resting on the floor as if it'd keep him grounded. But it wasn't only the final jolt that hit them, causing the feel of pre-emptive bruises to shock up his nerves. At the impact, the first thought that went through Sipper's mind was that the canoe wasn't short enough that he should've hit the other bench (Ramiro was right that it should fit the two of them as long as it would float).

Looking down as he rubbed his shins, Sipper noticed that something had dislodged from the floor of the canoe and bumped into them. Picking it up in his hands, Sipper froze.

It was a book.

There was no title on the cover. No words at all graced the worn but lovingly cared for leather, only a symbol carved and filled with in copper and gold emboss. The pages were fairly thin, not quite loose-leaf, but not the thick parchment the cover would've suggested. Sipper turned it over in his hands, wondering at how something like this could've sat undamaged in a canoe for however long without even any wear-and-tear (he supposed the cover and ornamental nature of the boat must've helped), and mused that this might put another couple hours dent into his demand for summer reading before he was about to flip it open.

"Woah! What's that?" Maple was leaning over his shoulder with her now barefoot ankles wading in the water, shoes in hand. "Another nerd book?"

"I don't know. I just found it here, it must've jolted when we stopped." Sipper shrugged at her curious look. "Haven't opened it yet."

"Well," Maple sent a look over her shoulder at Wanda, who was sitting on the lifeguard chair completely ignoring the swimmers to send a thumbs up in the twins' direction. "I guess we can check it out later, or once we're on Eagle Point, but we've been waiting a really long time so _let's get going_!" And with that she grabbed one of the oars, hopped into the opposite side of the canoe, and pushed off into the Caribbean water.

Sipper passed his hand over the book cover as he tried to think of a place to put it where it wouldn't get splashed by the waves. He wanted to open it up and read it, at the very least _see what it was about_ , and the longer he held it the more his curiosity was literally _eating_ at him.

Sighing at the cover, Sipper held onto the side and tried to clear a place in the middle of the canoe (without shaking it) to set it down.

"Oooh!" Maple leaned forward to join him, instinctively balancing the weight in the center of the vessel and simultaneously getting a closer look at the artifact. "It has a star on the cover!"

"It's not a star, Maple." Sipper scoffed. "It looks more like a triangle… with wings." Looking back down at the cover, he again rubbed his hand over the odd shape: three equilateral sides of gold with two copper wings curving out the middle. If they didn't curve down slightly and have the tiniest hint of copper in their center, Sipper could understand why his sister would mistake them for points on a star.

"Come on! Aren't you going to open it?"

Sipper should've just put the book down, waited and saved it until they got back to the cabin or for another rainy day when Uncle Steve didn't have chores for them. Sipper was going to put it down, _was in the process_ of burying that book under their shoes so nothing happened to what must've been someone's treasure, at least in his runaway imagination. But despite himself, that curiosity reared its head again and he sighed and shared a conspiratorial grin with his twin, already treasuring the first real adventure they've ever had.

And then Sipper opened the journal.

* * *

 _ **LAIXVB'K TSZR CORNQPZ YVV RY SF LVZ ARTHU**_

* * *

 _ **EHHNEE FERVJ'Z JRKZ OOD AISQNW**_

 _ **DLNBXQ VH KEKXHEW CUL EKNILDT KLES MQDV**_

 _ **VTFC WZE SMCGXUA ANTOHXSRP OJOPP HZBAZR**_

 _ **EMT KLARX'U ZWZKFVLFG CCENZ FLMCKD RRON**_


End file.
